


30 Days

by Storyflight



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Absent Parents, All of that bad stuff is in the middle but then it's not mentioned again, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Autistic Tojo Kirumi, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Crush, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mentions of Ableism, Nonbinary Amami Rantaro, Platonic "I love you"s, Platonic Relationships, SORRY KIRUMI, Swearing, Tojo Kirumi can say little a bad word, as expected, background Sonia Nevermind/Pekoyama Peko, headcanons glaore, nothing physical, past emotional/psychological abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23216944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storyflight/pseuds/Storyflight
Summary: Her step-siblings went to Hope’s Peak and there are articles about their experience there, but nothing about Kirumi. Heck, even her parent’s past spouses are brought up. He looks over at the laptop, it’s a speech from Hideki a month before being Prime Minister.Since then, it’s been thirty days. He’s been Minister for thirty days, the worst thirty days in Kirumi’s life.---Kiyotaka (and company) comforts his best friend.
Relationships: Amami Rantaro & Tojo Kirumi, Amami Rantaro/Tojo Kirumi, Ishimaru Kiyotaka & Amami Rantaro, Ishimaru Kiyotaka & Tojo Kirumi, Pekoyama Peko & Tojo Kirumi, Sonia Nevermind & Tojo Kirumi
Kudos: 26





	30 Days

**Author's Note:**

> YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never written anything with Kiyotaka UUUUHHH Let alone in his POV

With a maid and housekeeper at Hope’s Peak, the school is never left in a dirty state. If there is any mess, it’s there for a short time until it’s cleaned up. Even dorm rooms do not have a chance to stay cluttered. 

Although, Kiyotaka has a really good eye. His finger glides on a table in the open lounge, dust. There could be only thirty specks in total on his finger, and then a hundred in total. An experienced cleaner could recognise this, other students would pay it no mind. His lip twitched, this wasn’t good, Kirumi is always on top of her work. She has a schedule when it comes to cleaning the school and never breaks it, so the lounge should be dust-free by now, or with fewer specks.

This means one thing, something is wrong with Kirumi. He’s been with her since they could barely speak, so Kiyotaka can notice any change in pattern at once. If Kirumi is not moving, then it’s  _ bad.  _ She must be on her feet, always cleaning, always doing something, she’s like a shark when it comes to working. She cannot sit still, even when  _ sitting  _ she has her leg constantly shaking. So, if she’s not doing her afternoon cleaning,  _ where  _ is she? He wants to believe that Miu needs her to test an invention or Teruteru needs an extra hand for snacks, but that’s not the case, Kiyotaka knows that.

This is the time where he asks other students, but she’s not close to many students. Asking someone like Maki or Tenko would be pointless, they see her in classes and that’s it. Besides Teruteru for obvious reasons, there are three students she spends time with outside of class (not counting himself). Peko is nowhere to be found, so she’s most likely spending time with Sonia. Kirumi never interferes with other’s romantic affairs, so that’s two down. One last person and he’s sure that they knew.

“Hey! Rantaro!” Relief floods his chest when he catches a glimpse of the Adventurer’s messy green hair (seriously, he desperately wants to grab a comb or brush, sit them down, and try his best to tame the beast). They jump up from his loud call and straighten their posture at once. He makes a mental note to tone down the volume next time.

“Am I in trouble?” They ask with an edge in their tone, “Cause I promise I made sure I hid the body” 

For a second, Kiyotaka believes their words, then pounders how Rantaro is and previous phrases they’ve made. If Mukuro said it? Another story. “You’re not in trouble!! It’s—“ he clears his throat, Rantaro is  _ right  _ there, no need to yell. “Uh…how are you?”

“My mouth hurts” they stick out the tip of their tongue, “A  _ lot,  _ I visited Mikan and Seiko for some painkillers, but then after a while, they wear off. I can’t sit there and take twenty in a day”

“Well…” he holds his hands behind his back, “You’ve only had your braces for a week and it’ll take time for your mouth to adjust. I’m surprised you haven’t asked Seiko how she deals with it”

“Noooo, I think I bothered her enough” they let out a lighthearted chuckle, revealing their new braces. “Anyway, what’s up? You never talk to me like this, so there must be an issue. Oh I Uh—“ they lower their brows, “Is it—“

“Kirumi hasn’t done her afternoon cleaning” he cutes in, “And I don’t think anyone called her for a request. She’s not with Peko or Sonia, so I thought she would be with you”

“Uh…” They lose eye contact with Kiyotaka and stare at a wall for a moment. “Why would…” they look back at him, “Why me? Why not...er...K-Kaede?”

Expected response. “You two are close”  _ and you both have what Hifumi calls mutual pinning,  _ “And if she’s not cleaning or has a request, she’s with four other people. One of them is you”

“The last time I saw her was when we walked to Latin together. I usually walk with her out but she said she had to do something important and didn’t want me to miss the next class. And well…” Their shoulders drop, “She wasn’t in the next class”

_ Oh no.  _ “She  _ never  _ misses class unless the student council or teachers need her! But we do not have any events planned soon! This is—“ his heart begins to race, “This is bad, really bad. “Rantaro, have you noticed anything different from her?”

Rantaro nods. “Besides the class, she’s not answering as many questions, when anyone gives her a request, she only nods. Then it’s her frown. She keeps a straight face, neutral, but this one is...sad, it’s small but I could tell. But this isn’t anything super new, it’s been going on for almost a month. The missing class happened today”

“Kirumi must be in her room then! Thank you, Rantaro!!” He takes their cold, ring-filled hand and gives it a rough shake of gratitude. “I owe you one! Maybe come with me? She would appreciate it”

“...I don’t want to crowd her” they frown, “And besides...you two go way back, it’ll be awkward when I’m there and you two do your childhood friends connection” Rantaro waves goodbye and leaves the moral compass be, “I’ll see you at dinner, tell me how it—“

“Rantaro!”

The Adventurer freezes. 

“Don’t sell yourself short! Kirumi! She! S-She...she cares about you. You mean a lot to her too, it’s okay if you don’t want to see her now but...I’m sure if you let her know you’re there for her, that smile will come back”

“...Hey,” Rantaro turns over their shoulder, “Thanks, Taka. She’s lucky to have a friend like you”

The two parted ways. Kiyotaka takes his time through the halls but sprints once he’s at the dormitories. Harmony Dorms, second floor, room B, and he knocks at once. It’s no ordinary knock, one that only him and Kirumi share. 

There’s silence. He raises his fist one more time to knock, but a muffled voice saying “The door is open” suspends him. With his other hand, Kiyotaka turns the knob slightly and opens the door. 

“Ki…” His voice trails off as he looks around her room. Everything is fine but her desk, it’s messy for once. Her laptop is open, the only light in the room, and playing a video. It sounds like a speech or a conference. Newspapers and magazines are scattered about the desk, behind her feet even, Kirumi never leaves paper on the floor. Speaking of Kirumi, she’s unmoving at her desk, head buried in her arms, and grey hair sprawled out. 

“Ki…” Kiyotaka closes the door behind him. There’s clapping coming from the laptop and Kirumi twitches. He takes the seat next to her, awkward, unsettling, he’s not sure what to do right now. “Ki…” he reaches to her back, maybe a little physical comfort would help? Ah, he stops himself when bold font catches his attention. Kiyotaka carefully picks up the newspaper. 

_ “Toujou Hideki, Japan’s New Prime Minister!” _

_ “News about Minister Toujou” _

_ “One of the best leaders around, Toujou Hideki” _

It’s nothing but good things and it makes him feel sick.  _ Sure, he’s a good leader, but a terrible father.  _ Every newspaper here is about her parents, nothing else. “ _ Toujou’s business skyrockets, there’s a Toujou in every city, the Big Three: Amami, Togami, and Toujou”  _ and nothing else. She picked out everything about her family, even the articles about her step-siblings. Their successful movies, buildings, fashion, modelling, you name it. She highlighted all of their names, every  _ Toujou _ imaginable, and as he scans them...none of them have “Kirumi” next to it. 

Her step-siblings went to Hope’s Peak and there are articles about their experience there, but nothing about Kirumi. Heck, even her parent’s past spouses are brought up. He looks over at the laptop, it’s a speech from Hideki a month before being Prime Minister. 

Since then, it’s been thirty days. He’s been Minister for thirty days, the worst thirty days in Kirumi’s life.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Kirumi croaks. She lifts her head from the desk and groans. Her pale green eyes grew dark and visible bags were under her eyes. Not only that, but there are tear stains on her cheek. “Every damn thing is...how great he is. How amazing his speeches were, how he’s going to be the next big thing in Japan. I don’t get it...I don’t get it…”

Kiyotaka remains silent.

“Of course they would only say things about him, good things about my mother, and talk about how amazing my siblings are. They want the gold, the platinum, the best of the best in their media. Heaven forbid they talk about how  _ awful  _ my parents were to me. There’s no  _ ‘Katsuko and Hideki are huge ableists’, ‘Katsuko neglects Kirumi after she refuses to speak’, ‘Maids take care of their daughter and pay attention to their older kids’, ‘Kirumi is wasted potential’.  _ There’s—“ her body trembles, “I can't believe that I still mean nothing to them. I want to believe I’m successful, I’m in Hope’s peak! They would’ve wanted that! They—“ she grips Kiyotaka’s shoulders, and he gets a better look of Kirumi’s features. Her eyes are watery, pupils as tiny a singular dust speck, and breathing grows heavy. It’s all large and shallow breaths. “They don’t care! No one does! And here they are being praised by the world and no one will ever know how fucking terrible they were to me!”

She shakes Kiyotaka and shuts her eyes tight. Any moment she’s going to break, there’s no way she can hold this in, it’s too much for her.  _ It’s too much for me.  _ All of this is heavily relatable, ouch. 

“I hate it!! I hate it so much!! I hate it that I should be proud of them! It feels like a crime that I’m not proud of them! Then when anyone in this school asks ‘Are you proud of your father?!’ I want to say NO!” She yells the last bit, “But they don’t know! No one knows about how they are! And I can't—“ her breathing staggers, “I can’t— I-I-I-I-I”

Kirumi finally breaks. This is the fourth time she expressed such extreme emotion in her life, each of them Kiyotaka was there for. The maid slams her face against his torso and sobs, soaking his uniform, and pulling him into a tight hug. It’s  _ really  _ tight, he could barely breathe. 

He scoots his chair closer and hugs Kirumi, a protective bear hug and has no intention of letting go. Never going to let go, never going to leave her side, only when she’s ready.

She doesn’t deserve this, Kirumi is a wonderful and caring person, hardworking and dependable, elegant and professional, the entire school can agree wholeheartedly. And when she has parents who forced her to be them...bring her down for being herself...Kiyotaka feels nothing but empathy. 

_ “Of course Kirumi is amazing, have you seen her parents?”  _ No, her talent wasn’t inherited. That’s all from hard work and dedication, nothing else. Kiyotaka watched her learn from her maids, trying to do what they do, and looking up to how accommodating they were.  _ “I want to be like them!”  _ Kirumi told him when they were ten years old,  _ “I want to be a maid, I want to help people. I have no interest in political affairs or the business...I want to be needed differently, a humble way” _

Kiyotaka is trying his best not to cry. Each choke and whine is like a knife jabbing in his spine, he exhales hotly and runs his fingers through her silver hair.

He’s not sure how long they stayed here, but someone ends up coming inside and witnessing her breakdown. They didn’t say anything, only gasp quietly, Kirumi never noticed.

It’s Peko, she’s distraught and shares a look with Kiyotaka. Sonia is peeking behind and covering her mouth with her hands.

‘Get them, and come back here’ he mouths. Peko nods and shuts the door once more.  _ It shouldn’t be long now. _

“Kirumi Toujou” he begins. Kiyotaka remains very quiet, hushed, words that the maid can only hear, “I don’t care what they say, you’ve proved countless times that you’re a remarkable person. I’m sorry your family is like this, let it be known that I love you no matter what. You could be a maid, a doctor, a barista, a teacher, a lawyer, doesn’t matter. As long as you’re happy, that’s what is important”

Kirumi sniffs and coughs again.

“You may not believe it, but you have a family here who loves you. Countless praise and compliments about your hard work, many look up to you, I look up to you...please don’t think that you’re insignificant because of your bloodline”

The door opens once more. Peko rushes over and kneels in front of Kirumi. Sonia stands behind the maid and gives her back a gentle rub. Rantaro is behind Kiyotaka and lowers herself to his level. “Hey” they whisper, “I uh...Thank you again”

“Kirumi” Peko mutters, “Is there anything that we can—“

“No, no...I” She let’s go of Kiyotaka and rubs her swollen eyes, “I didn't mean to cry, I shouldn’t…”

“You’re a maid, yes, but human first. It’s okay to cry” Sonia’s hands make her way to her shoulders. “Do you feel better?”

“...No” she huffs bluntly.

“Do you need another hug?” Out of the four here for Kirumi, Rantaro is crowned the hugger. Sonia might be a close second, it’s just the big sibling vibes that radiate from them, who wouldn’t want to hug them? Rantaro is probably softer than expected. “Only if you’re comfortable” their arms are out and welcoming.

She takes the plunge, literally, and drags hem down on the ground with her. They let out a painful grunt, but recovered. “It’s okay...It’s okay…” They press their nose against her forehead, “Kiyotaka is here...so is Peko and Sonia...and we all love you” 

There’s a little smile coming from Peko. In solidarity, he smiles as well. Sure “love” for him and the girls are the same, but Rantaro’s is a  _ little  _ different. Needed nonetheless. 

“And…” Sonia gets down on her knees, “So do the teachers and other students here”

_“I’ve been trying to look for Kirumi all day…”_ Oh no,  _ Oh no.  _ She cannot serve any requests, not while she’s crying. It’s Byakuya, he makes his way to the open room and opens his mouth to speak.

Once he witnessed the scene, his mouth was sealed shut.

“Byakuya…”

“I’ll leave you all be” Wow, he’s being considerate, that’s new. Byakuya closes the door and they’re all left alone, good.

Her crying went on for maybe another twenty minutes. Kirumi hasn’t explained why she’s crying, she had no energy to talk once again. They picked up clues from the highlighted newspaper and speech from the laptop. She never lets go of Rantaro, Peko and Sonia had their comforting moments, and Kiyotaka remains silent. He’s done enough, she needs others. 

_ She needs them, words cannot describe how delighted I am to see her open up to others. I’ve never seen Kirumi look so soft when Rantaro is around. She’s smiling when Sonia is around and gives her a quick hug. Peko and Kirumi both work on thinking about themselves together...Kirumi, I’m so proud of you.  _

“I think...I think I…” Kirumi let’s go of the Adventurer, finally, they can breathe, “I think I’ve taken too much of your time…”

“Pfft!” Sonia snorts, “Of course not! This isn’t a waste of time or any of that shit. I don’t keep track of my time here, I love you too much for that! Rantaro can agree”

They blink dumbly. “Oh...yeah, of course. Heh, sorry I wasn’t expecting to be c-called”

“Are you ready to get up? We can head to the dining hall” Peko rests her hand on top of the maid’s, “You can have ice cream, it’s the best treat after a good cry”

“Hey!” Kiyotaka points at Peko, “No desserts before dinner!! That’s not good for you!”

“Whoops” Rantaro and Sonia day in unison.

“You two eat ice cream before dinner?! Are you crazy?! Don’t you get stomachaches?!” As Kiyotaka scolds the two, he notices Kirumi holding back a laugh and trying to stand back up. Even if he’s being dead serious, it’s good that his advice made her smile.

“Ah—“ Kirumi is still weak from her breakdown and almost collapsed. Rantaro gets up just in time to catch her. “E-Eh...Rantaro, I’m—“

“Hey, it’s fine. Do you need me to carry you to the dining hall?”

“Do it, do it, do it, do it” Sonia chants.

“No thank you...I,” she stands back up and straightens her posture. Kirumi fixes her hair and headband, acting as nothing happened minutes ago. “Thank you, all of you…” She takes Rantaro’s hand and gives it a light squeeze, “I apologise that you had to see me like this. Taka, I—“

“What’s done is done” he assures, “Come on, let’s see if Teruteru made anything. I heard he’s been working on snacks today, so  _ no  _ ice cream!”

“And if he says anything” Peko leads the way out of the dorm and narrows her cold ruby gaze, “I’m going to destroy him”

“He might be into that, babe” Sonia points out.

“Then I’ll beat him until he’s uninterested” Aaaand Kiyotaka keeps his distance. “Let’s get a move on before it gets crowded”

“Woah, hey! There you are Kirumi!” Kaede waves over to the group, “We were looking for you! Aaaaaaand are you holdings hands with Rantaro~”

“Who else was looking for me?” She ignores the last comment,  _ oh Kirumi.  _ “And for how long?”

“A couple of hours? And well...the whole class was worried. It’s good to see you’re alright, u-uh” she clasped her hands around Kirumi’s free hand, “You do a lot for us, let us exchange the favour from time to time”

“Hey! Bakamatsu!” Miu Iruma howls from the dormitory exit, “Hurry up! I don’t want shitty Kokichi beating me to the punch!”

“I’m coming! Just, remember that” Kaede winks and hurries to her girlfriend. Kiyotaka catches a glimpse of hopefulness in her olive eyes.

_ I told you they all care for you. _

“Ready?” Kiyotaka raises an eyebrow at his best friend. She gives a nod of approval and walks with everyone out of the dormitory. 

**Author's Note:**

> I had a big big headcanon that Kirumi and Kiyotaka were childhood friends and grew up together. I've been wanting to write something with them but I accidentally made the first one angsty. Give Kirumi friends.
> 
> I wrote this in one sitting, just woke up and began. I knew if I didn't do it now it never would've been done.


End file.
